


Venus Doom

by mitochondrials



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Fable 2 (Video Game), Iron Man - All Media Types, Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternative Universe - Fable 2, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 20:44:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12240333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mitochondrials/pseuds/mitochondrials
Summary: Bucky Barnes is the last of the Heroes, those said blessed by the Gods to  have superhuman Strength, expert Skill, and wield the magic known as Will.He alone is able to utilize them all, and is on a search for three others, leading him to the Pirate King Stark, master of Skill. An egotistical, vain, charming brat of a man, whom Bucky can't help but fall in love with despite it all.





	Venus Doom

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bill_Longbow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bill_Longbow/gifts).



> Written as part one of the several key exchanges happening in the 18+ WinterIron Discord Server, and as my final key for this round. My prompt this time was: "That could have gone better" + pirates.
> 
> Shout-out to the fiancée [guy_fieri](http://archiveofourown.org/users/guy_fieri) for the beta, and [Bill_Longbow](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Bill_Longbow) and [blue_pointer](http://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_pointer) with help on the summary!!

Light burst across the stone deck, drowning Bucky’s vision in its glow. Obadiah’s soldiers managed a decent shot at throwing him to the ground in his hesitation, but Carol came swinging her hammer at their head quickly as it’d come.

“Hurry,” She grit through her teeth, helping him up as Wanda, electricity still shooting from her hands, dropped to her knees in one final push.

“It’s open!” Wanda announced, and Carol flung Bucky up the cullis’s steps. Then there was nothing but light burning his eyes and stinging his fingers. He gasped for air and felt the singe of the gash across his chest, reminding him of his brashness, the blood-slick and running down his stomach.

Then there was nothing but the cold, and the gentle kiss of nothingness thereafter.

\---

Someday, Buck, we’re gonna live in a castle just like castle Fairfax; you and me. And we’ll never have to worry about the cold, or going hungry ever again.

\---

A bang and Bucky was awake, curled in the corner of a cage.

“Is it alive?” Someone said, and Bucky slowly blinked his eyes, taking everything in. He’d made it through the cullis gate, to Wraithsmarsh. Had Wanda and Carol survived? Where …

“There was a dog with ya, wasn’t there?” The man, peering through the steel bars of the old cell he must of locked Bucky in continued. The cold washed over Bucky like a blanket, seeping into his bones. It was so dark, it might as well have been night. “You won’t be seeing him again, that’s for certain. You might not be seeing me again.” Then the man laughed at his own morbid humor.

It felt more like an omen, the way the white mist of the fog crept across the wet grass. There was nothing else beyond them and the old man’s lit touch. Not the sounds of animals rummaging about, no birds chirping.

Only ...only, when Bucky listened closely, the wailing of an infant softly in the distance.

His gash was already healing. If he kept come and quiet, he’d be able to risk breaking the padlock nestled against the cell.

“Now what’s...” The old man said in questioned, distracted by the childish wailing. He turned to investigate, Bucky becoming dead still while slowly, slowly, the fog grew thicker and thicker, enveloping everything the eye could.

He heard the torch drop to the ground as the old man suddenly began to thrash, screaming; the old man’s voice gurgling, pleading.

Silence, the fog evaporating to reveal the old man’s slaughtered corpse floating in a puddle not far from where Bucky was trapped in his cell, the torch burning brightly in the dirt.

“ _Ca Yo ear M_ ”

Bucky swallowed, fumbling for the Guild Seal wrapped around his neck.

“Strange?” He hoped for desperately, his voice hoarse.

The Seal sounded like static, Stranges’ voice, because it was definitely Strange, coming in and out. Finally, after a minute, “James, are you there?”

“Yes,” Bucky said, then hesitated.

Strange chuckled, already ahead of him in that disturbing way only Strange could be. “The signal is difficult to maintain, but I see you’ve made it to Wraithsmarsh. The cullis gate malfunctioned and sent Wanda and Carol back to the Guild after you. Worry not.”

Bucky took a deep breath back out, allowing himself to relax. “Well, that’s better than nothing.”

“Indeed. Hence they can do nothing to assist you from here on in, but you are luckily not alone.”

A yap and Bucky couldn’t help but break into a relieved smile. “Stevie!”

His one companion, and his best friend, little Stevie trotted up to the cell and poked his snout through the bars, the key to it firmly held between his teeth.

“Hey there boy,” Bucky said, appreciatively taking it and giving Stevie’s nose a small, gentle poke. “And what a good boy you are, aren’t you? That’s right, you’re always my good boy!”

Stevie barked and twirled in a circled, excited. Once Bucky got himself out, he checked over Stevie’s glistening fur for any cuts or mars. Stevie was perfectly fine, thank goodness, but Bucky still noted how much blonder Stevie had been becoming lately. It matched the growing blue, shimmering swirls lining up his hands and down his face perfectly fine, so he barely decided to question it.

“I don’t know if the connection will hold,” Strange said, his voice coming through patchy.

“We’ll be fine,” Bucky said, “Won’t we boy?”

Stevie barked, twirling in a circle again.

Then Bucky snuffed out the torch, deciding it was more of a dead give-away than it was an aid. Plus, it always helped that he could spark flames from his fingertips should they need the light.

Walking the short trail up the hill from the cell he saw the silhouette of several, decrepit houses; the smell of old, moldy wood floating in the air, and the wetness of the swamp the covered his ankles as he descended down into what was left of this place.

“Oakvale,” Strange said. “Or, whatever left.” It was hard to hear, even still, but Bucky could feel the pain in Strange’s voice. He knew Strange spoke very rarely of it, but he knew Strange was fond of it, the village of legend. Why, hundreds of years ago when Heroes roamed the land, and the Guild was still new, a boy known as the ChickenChaser survived an assault from bandits that ransacked and burnt the village to the ground. ChickenChaser grew to become the most awe-inspiring, most feared Hero known to legend (at least perhaps during the modern time, after the great Heroes of old). He defeated Jack of Blades and was heralded the Hero of Oakvale for all time.

But, as Bucky read and heard, and as the great tales goes: Oakvale did not survive a second assault, decades later when a foolish boy made a trade with demons and the entire village was swallowed whole, forever haunted by the spirits that replaced them.

It was certainly eerie, that’s for sure.

“Don’t you worry about, Strange. Go have a debate with Carol again or something,” Bucky said because Heaven’s knew Carol had opinions about Will and Magic, and Strange’s obnoxious general presence to last centuries.

“Be careful of the fog,” Strange answered, “There is something controlling it.”

Bucky scoffed. “Yeah, well thanks, I guess, but I could have figured that.”

What was left of Oakvale wasn’t that big. It was already a small village, by comparison, to even the Vagabond camps Strange raised Bucky in. A selection of houses circled what would have once been the main square, and beyond that Bucky couldn’t see. There looked to be a path that curved up into the hill leading to a bridge that crossed above the square. Luckily, the moon’s light was being illuminated by the water, allowing him to also spot a hovering form drifting next to the old well dead center of the town.

“ _Be careful_ ,” Strange whispered.

Bucky slowly descended towards it, reaching behind him to dismount his rifle. It looked like a bunch of floating rags the closer he crept, squinting his eyes.

“It’d be nice if you actually shut up for once,” Bucky said, softly, crouching. The spirit--because what else could it be but a spirit--hadn’t noticed him just yet. He aimed, taking extra care despite his superhuman gift of Skill.

There was something walking in the water behind him on the right, and he paused. Stevie was crouched near his thigh, to the left, like the good boy he was. 

He carefully turned his head, and ---

Steve. Steve, young and alive ...and with eyes redder than blood giggled. The fog descended upon them, followed a blood-curdling scream.

Bucky quickly stood and ran backward, instantly alerting the spirit to his presence.

No. No, it was already aware.

Several Steve’s appeared their eyes all red as the giggled, sounding nothing like Steve’s voice, slowly making their way towards him.

He channeled his Will and blasted a fireball directly at them.

“A banshee,” Strange said, clearly still watching from beyond like he always did.

Another scream. “Welp, I guess I’m fucking it now,” Bucky said, running straight towards it. Upon a closer look, it seemed to be something of a woman, dressed in white with a red cloak, tattered and stained. But it wasn’t remotely human looking, its arms long and spider-like, its clawed hands, and its total lack of legs.

He reached for his pistol now, dropping the rifle in the water. There’d be plenty of time to buy a new one in Bloodstone once this was over. He aimed, and then he fired, over and over again, till the screaming and the giggling and the sloshing of them all moving in the water fell silent.

“Father-of-a-fuck!” He yelled, because of course once he finally caught his breath he realized how much of an idiot he actually was for doing so.

Stevie ran across the square to the other side, desperate to have his paws on dry (or at least, damp) ground, barking at Bucky to hurry up.

“Don’t alert the whole place, please and thank you,” Bucky said with a sigh. He followed suit, the wet, ruined rifle strapped to his back, letting Stevie take the lead round the bend and up the hill towards the bridge.

He reloaded his pistol, hearing the gentle, crunching footsteps of bone meeting earth; Hollow Men. Because of course Hollow Men. What was any place without vengeful spirits reanimating the freshly dead?

“Arguably, not that dead I suppose,” He muttered. Luckily, at least Stevie was able to sense them from several feet away.

Even better, the Hollow Men kept calming to the other side of the bridge, clinging to the wreckage of what looked like what was once a stone tower.

“Stay down,” He said, commanding Stevie. He picked them at long range one by one using, yes, his pistol.  

A feat no regular man could; a Heroes gift of Skill.

“You’re almost to the gate towards Bloodstone,” Strange said, popping once again.

“Yeah, I see it,” Bucky replied, spotting the very glittering, cleaned and polished gate just across the way once he was fully atop the hill and pasted the bridge. “Someone bothered to build a whole cemetery, and keep it maintained?”

There were tombstones littered in a line on both sides beyond it, made of marble. Looking between them revealed rows upon rows of tombs, all adorned with freshly picked flowers. Lavenders, lilies; daisies and lilacs, wreaths and bouquets. Some tombs, he noted, even had polished jewels placed before them, almost like an offering.

“I thought you said Bloodstone was the town of pirates?” Bucky asked Strange, baffled. It’d been beaten into him by Strange enough times that it was impossible to reach Bloodstone without a ship, hence the cullis gate. And pirates, the pirates Bucky read about and knew did do things like ... this.

“Yes,” Strange said, sounding almost bored. “As it's been for centuries like you should know.”

Bucky grunted while Stevie suddenly dashed off, swerving between the tombstones into the underbrush of the trees.

“Stevie!” He called, and the hesitated, kneeling down. This time he didn’t reach for his pistol, snapping his fingers aflame instead. A good fireball was always good.

He didn’t directly follow Stevie, crossing the pathway to the opposite row of tombs as he kept careful watch of his perimeter.  

Stevie gave a sharp whine in the distance and then Bucky froze in place, his shoulder bursting blood. The pain came only moments after as he clasped it with his other hand, dazed. Two more bursts to his leg and he was tumbling forward, face hitting the ground.

He gasped in a breath, trying to push himself back up. Something took hold of his unwounded shoulder, assisting him up and face to face with the most handsome being he’d ever seen.

“Now that could have gone better,” They said. They were tall and lean, with dark, wavy hair that curled just barely around the tips of their ears and the most piercing blue eyes. They were also dressed like a king, dazzling silver and white armor with a red sash. Their fingers and neck covered in jewels.

They tsked, repositioning Bucky so his back was against a tomb. “But can’t be too careful, now can we darling? A pirate’s treasure is his everything, and here you are amongst the finest the finest even outside my home. I think a scar or two is the perfect payment.” They said.

Bucky’s eyes widened. This person was Stark, the Hero he’d been sent to come find. The Pirate King of Bloodstone.

“What ...what are you planning to do to me, then?” Bucky challenged, bleeding as he was.

Stark just laughed, his voice so smooth and warm, like velvet. A lovely thing and Bucky hated himself for being enraptured by it.

He hated himself more once Stark’s fist struck him clean, knocking him right out.

**Author's Note:**

> So now I'm down the rabbit hole of Fable Winteriron, and you cannot stop me. I'm aware not everyone even knows about Fable, but anything not clear will be explained in story. I'm also not completely following Fable 2 word for word. Such as, _oh-hell-fucking-yeah did I make Tony Reaver_ , who is my Fable fave. But he's not gonna really be too, too much like Reaver at all. Not where it counts. Because Reaver is a straight up dick.
> 
> This is also a bit of a comic mash up, hence why Tony has dem blue eyes. I was going for 616 Tony, but Ults Tony took over, and honestly fits perfectly. So everything is, uh, very ambiguous in that regard. 
> 
> Title is from the song of the same name by HIM, which is my Reaver/Sparrow song for the Fable fic I'll probably never write. So, a win-win, right??? I'd like to think so ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). 
> 
> Anyway, thank you for reading!! I plan for an update sometime either later this month, or early-ish November? I do hope you enjoyed!!~


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